Chrome OS to be unleashed later this year

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Google's venture into the OS market via its Chrome OS will begin in the "late fall" according to a Google executive. Late fall is American for late autumn. So hopefully, we're looking at an October release.

The head of the Chrome project, Sundar Pichai, told the assembled hacks at Computex 2010 in Taipei: "We will be selective on how we come to market because we want to deliver a great user experience. We're thinking on both the hardware and software levels".

The good news for us users is that everything should be running smoothly by the time of the launch as Chrome is not dependent on new technology to get your favourite apps up and running.

"Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work", said Pichai. "You don't need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome. Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome".

Google is providing a skeleton of the open source system so expect to see PC manufacturers adapting the OS to fit its devices.

Chrome OS is set to be big, especially in the netbook market. It will be interesting to see how it sits alongside its Android sibling in the tablet world though.